The appointment of Tim Bailey, the CEO of Zurich’s local Life and Investments division, as CEO of Zurich Australia will have no impact on the company’s general insurance operations.

Under changes announced on Friday by new Zurich Group CEO Mario Greco, Australian

General Insurance CEO Raj Nanra will continue to report directly to Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific CEO Stuart Spencer, as will Mr Bailey.

The head of general insurance in Australia has previously been the senior company officer for Zurich in Australia, but much has changed since Mr Greco announced last month that the group’s general and life insurance operations globally would be brought under one leadership team.

Mr Nanra says “it’s business as usual” in the Australian operation.

“I remain the CEO for General Insurance in Australia and New Zealand [and] Tim Bailey remains the CEO for the Life and Investments business in Australia, with some additional Zurich whole of country duties,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“It is also business as usual in New Zealand. Our New Zealand operation sits within the general insurance business and will continue to report to me.”

Mr Bailey, who took up the life and investments role in Sydney at the start of last year, has held a number of senior global roles at Zurich.

Since joining the Swiss global insurer in the UK from Axa in 2008, he has been appointed to a number of high-level international roles, including chief risk officer for Zurich’s Global Life business.

Mr Bailey has been a member of the global life and group risk management teams, as well as three Zurich statutory boards and the group’s Corporate Responsibility Working Group.

He has also been head of global life strategy and strategy and planning director for UK Life.

Mr Greco’s new global organisation chart, which has been seen by insuranceNEWS.com.au, is the next step in his drive to make Zurich “more agile and more accountable, with a clearer line of sight between the top of the company and the people looking after our customers”.

The chart continues to refer to Mr Spencer and several other regional heads as “a.i.” – an abbreviation that means “ad interim”. The Latin phrase means “in the meantime” or “temporarily”.

Zurich has not elaborated on the meaning of the term as it applies to Mr Spencer.

The new leadership structure came into effect on Friday, with regional and functional details to be finalised by September.

The group’s global strategy is scheduled to be unveiled in November.